"Jesse St. James…" Noah said confidently, taking a lick of his vanilla ice cream cone.

"What about him?" Rachel asked boredly, spinning her spoon around her cup of blackberry sorbet. They were sitting on the hood of her dad's car, eating frozen treats even though it was only fifty-five degrees out. There was something different about the fresh air in Lima than the air in the cities they had been living in, and they wanted to get as much of it as possible.

"Do you remember him?" Noah grinned evilly.

"Of course I remember him. I almost had sex with him." Rachel professed embarrassingly.

"What do you know about him now? Is he out yet?"

"Out of what…"

"You know…"

"No, I don't. I haven't mastered the art of mind reading yet," She teased.

"Then what is all that tuition money going toward?" Noah cried. Rachel simply giggled, shaking her head. "You know, has he pledged his fidelity to the Logo network? Has he downloaded YMCA on iTunes? Has he…you know…" Puck was growing impatient. "Is he gay, Rachel? Is he gay?"

"Why, do you want to date him?" Rachel asked loudly.

"Hey, I'm just curious!" Puck shrugged. "I want to measure the accuracy of my high school gaydar. I mean, that kid did wear a lot of scarves."

"Right…"

"Kurt Hummel was the only other guy I knew who liked scarves that much."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "I just said I almost had sex with him. He's not gay."

"…Blaine Anderson," Puck replied.

"What, are you asking if I remember Blaine too?"

"…That party you and I threw Junior Year…god… that was a great night. I was there with what's her face…Lauren Zizes. Wow, I miss her. She was a bad ass."

"What's your point?" Rachel said, taking a bite of her sorbet.

"Well, from that night, I have a…um… vivid image in my head of you and Bow-ties McGee rolling around behind the bar. He and Kurt got together, what, two weeks later?"

"He was experimenting…" Rachel asserted. "I was just being helpful."

"You know, they say girls go for guys that remind them of their fathers."

Rachel sighed, remembering her last boyfriend. How had she not realized he was gay? He had insisted on being called Jacques. His real name was Jacob. If that wasn't a red flag, what was?

"Hey, I'm just messing with you." Puck continued gently, watching her face fall. "You made some great decisions in high school too. I would know. I was one of them, and I promise you that I am not gay."

Rachel sighed again. "Thanks for that."

"For what…being straight?"

Rachel looked at him thoughtfully. She wasn't exactly sure what she had meant. "For being Noah Puckerman," She tried to sound insincere.

"You're very welcome…" He said. The conversation came to a brief pause as they continued to eat their desserts.

"That was a great weekend, though," Rachel smiled nostalgically. "The weekend of that party…even if its events did ultimately lead to Brittany throwing up on me in front of the entire school."

"I almost forgot about that." Puck grinned. "That was priceless."

"Shut up," Rachel laughed. "That was quite possibly the most disgusting thing that has ever happened to me."

"Do you remember the day after the party itself? I came back to replace your parents' stash and you were still a little drunk."

The memory was foggy, but Rachel was surprised that she'd managed to hold onto it at all. "Didn't you make me waffles?" She asked. "You used milk and eggs, and I ate them anyway because I was too hungry to consider the inhumane treatment of the animals that had produced them."

"They were delicious waffles, though, weren't they?" Noah wiggled his eyebrows.

Rachel couldn't help but smile. "Yes, I guess they were kind of delicious. I think they were a little bit magical too. They made my nausea go away."

"I think I bought you a present too, didn't I?"

"What are you talking about?" Rachel had to think about it. "Are you talking about that disgusting pink wine?"

"Hey! I picked that out special for you! I knew how much you liked pink…it matched your rhinestone microphone."

Rachel chuckled. "I went through that bottle in two days."

"And what about the other one…?" Puck asked.

"What?"

"I bought you two bottles! One wasn't enough to thank you for the awesomeness your empty house allowed."

"I don't remember," Rachel rolled her eyes. "It was five years ago."

"You don't even remember…" Puck shook his head in playful resentment. "Damn, Berry…"

Rachel watched him lick at his ice cream cone some more. Even though it was chilly out, they'd been sitting around long enough that the ice cream was starting to drip down the cone and onto his hand. Compulsively, she pulled a napkin from the stack she'd been holding between her palm and her cup and dabbed some of the mess away.

"It's a good thing we're out here," She told him. "If we were in the car, you'd be getting this all over my dad's seats."

Noah was un-fazed. He kept eating his ice cream, ignoring her hand. Rachel suddenly realized what she was doing, and started to laugh.

"Sorry, that was rude, wasn't it?" She blushed. "I'm not your mother, and you're not five years old."

Puck shrugged. "Hey, the maternal instinct is kind of hot."

"Oh, right…" Rachel said simply. "I forgot you were into that."

Puck's face fell. Simultaneously, the two of them thought of Shelby Corcoran. "Right…" was all Puck could say.

They then came across another silence, but this one lasted longer than their previous ones. By the time either of them was ready to talk again, they had finished their treats completely.

Rachel realized that her tone could possibly be coming across as bitter or resentful.

"You know, I never held it against you," Rachel quickly tried to redeem herself. "The thing with Shelby, I mean. It was gross, and inappropriate, but it was her responsibility to acknowledge that, not yours."

"Right…" Puck slid off the hood of the car. When his feet were on the ground, he held out a hand to help Rachel down. It was beginning to become clear to her that he really didn't want to talk about the time he'd nailed her birth-mother. She wasn't sure how to fix it.

"You hooked up with a lot of girls in high school, but aside from a few mistakes, it wasn't entirely a bad thing," Rachel continued. "You were honest about what you wanted. I personally always felt respected…"

"You and I never hooked up, Rachel," Puck reminded her crossly, leaving her stunned as he turned away and started toward the garbage can that stood across the Dairy Queen parking lot. "We made out a few times. We never even went to second base."

"Noah, hold on!" She rushed after him. "I'm sorry I brought any of this up. I just want you to know that even though you did some stupid things in high school, I always saw what a great guy you were! I mean, you made me waffles! You organized a flash mob for me!"

Puck suddenly stopped himself. "I guess it's my fault," He said, clenching his fists and trying to relax. "I'm the one who wanted to talk about high school."

Rachel nodded. "And it's been great. We had some really great times…"

"I spent two weeks in Juvenile hall…" He reminded her. "I threw Kurt into a dumpster and locked Artie in a port-o-potty. I got my best friend's girlfriend pregnant."

"And by graduation, we all loved you anyway," Rachel smiled. "Look, Noah…you redeemed yourself years ago. Let's talk about the party again. Let's talk about Blaine and…and Jesse! Those are the good memories! They're the ones that are important."

Puck shook his head. He didn't want to talk at all. Rachel felt completely defeated.

"My mom's probably done with work by now," Puck told Rachel. "I should go home and see her. It's been a few months since she's seen me. She's probably waiting by the door."

Rachel nodded, still feeling like she had done something wrong. "I guess you and I have to whole weekend to talk, don't we."

Puck nodded sadly, starting back toward the car. "Yeah. Sure we do."